4 4 D O C . 5 3 J U N E 1 9 1 9 because he was earning too little, but I know nothing about his income.[3] I much rather believe that it is due to the enormous obstacles and work he is encountering along the path he has embarked upon to elaborate the general theory of relativity. It is my firm conviction that it is a wrong path but he believes firmly in it and only God knows the truth.[4] Weyl is a great fellow and is bound to find his way. One should definitely keep him in Zurich. At the end of the month I am coming to Zu- rich again to deliver the second part of the lectures on relativity.[5] I’m very much looking forward to seeing you all, and my boys. Sadly, I have my sick mother in Lucerne, who is suffering from advanced abdominal cancer.[6] I shall have to stay there as long as possible. I have made a small step forward in rel. theory, but am not sure whether I have hit the right thing.[7] Nature rarely surrenders one of her mag- nificent secrets! Here the political wave has subsided. There’s no energy left for grand emotions rather, one is more or less passive. The populace perceives the end of the war as a liberation, the reappearance of vegetables as a relief. Among entre- preneurs, [there is] a lack of initiative owing to insecurity about the future among the masses, a weak sense of self-esteem combined with a disinclination to work. The Bolshevist wave seems to be somewhat neutralized by the peace terms [8] but one is easily mistaken and must humbly wait to see what comes. In any case, I am not pessimistic but rather foresee, if not a splendid future, then a tolerable one ahead. Truly free conditions cannot evolve here, where the people know only sub- servience and—rage. Luring Planck away from here is totally inconceivable.[9] He is rooted to his na- tive land with every fiber, like no one else he’s no uprooted plant as the likes of us. I lack any sentiment of the sort all I know is a sense of duty toward people as a whole and an attachment to those who have become personally intimate with me. In any event, people here appeal to me better in misfortune than in fortune and plen- ty, just as this landscape is unbearable in the blinding sun. I look forward to seeing you! Yours, Einstein. 53. From Heinrich Zangger [after 1 June 1919] [Not selected for translation.]